Family Law Council submissions

The following submissions have been made by the Family Law Council to various inquiries.

Submission on the Access and Equity Inquiry into the responsiveness of Australian Government services to Australia’s culturally and linguistically diverse population

The Family Law Council provided its report Improving the Family Law System for Clients from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds to the independent panel conducting an inquiry into Australian Government services considering the needs of Australia’s culturally and linguistically diverse population. (March 2012)

Submission on the Family Law Legislation Amendment (Family Violence and Other Measures) Bill 2011 (April 2011)

The Family Law Council was invited by the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee to make a submission on the Family Law Legislation Amendment (Family Violence and Other Measures) Bill 2011.

On 25 March 2011, the Senate referred the provisions of the Family Law Legislation Amendment (Family Violence and Other Measures) Bill 2011 to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 23 June 2011. Further information about the inquiry is available at the Committee's website.

The Family Law Council assisted with the former NADRAC’s reference regarding the integrity of alternative dispute resolution processes, in particular, confidentiality, admissibility, practitioner immunity and conduct obligations in ADR processes.

In its submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission and the Australian Health Ethics Committee - National Health and Medical Research Council, Council restricted its comments to Chapter 31, DNA Parentage Testing, as it considered the issues raised in this chapter of the discussion paper are relevant to its area of special interest.

Draft Practice Guidelines for Child Representatives (November 2002)

Council was impressed by the stated principles and practices which the draft guideline sought to enunciate. Council made comment that given its clear structure, the draft practice guideline should also provide a solid basis for the ongoing development and design of child representative training modules.

Submission on Property and Family Law: Options for Change (July 1999)

Council had already done a considerable amount of work on related issues: principles of a good property law; violence and financial remedies under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cwlth); and the interrelationship of spousal maintenance and the clean break principle. Council considered it appropriate to incorporate that work into this submission to present an integrated approach to property reform, even though these issues were not given particular prominence in the discussion paper.